Managing language course booking at scale
GoMeddo combines course, tutor and student planning in EF English First’s international course booking platform.
EF English First is a division of EF Education First, the market leader in language travel. EF Education First launched in China in 1997 and has since grown into a global company, with EF English First a subsidiary with 40,000 employees, 600 schools and offices with locations in 114 countries. Because of the large number of courses they provide, EF English First needed a smart solution to schedule all classes, students and teachers in an effective, simple and clear way.
Seeing the full picture
EF English First has more than 300,000 students and hundreds of teachers spread across 250+ locations. The most important thing for EF English First is to schedule students and teachers in the right classroom on the right day and at the right time. Before the integration with GoMeddo, EF English First used a long list of contact moments in Salesforce. They then had to figure out themselves which contact moment matched which teacher and where this teacher was supposed to teach. This laborious task was untenable in the long-term. So they sought a solution that would provide a clear overview of all variables, such as teacher working hours, classrooms availability and location opening hours.
The solution
EF English First chose GoMeddo as a native app within Salesforce, their existing CRM system, allowing them to leverage contact data. By displaying all contact moments in one convenient calendar overview EF English First now has a platform that is easy to manage and infinitely scalable.
GoMeddo incorporates intelligent calendar management. When a teacher calls in sick, the planner can simply remove this teacher from the timetable and offer an appropriate alternative based on factors such as suitability and availability. When EF English First specify opening times of schools and classroom availability, unavailable times are greyed out in their calendar overview and no double bookings can be scheduled. These automations make course planning simple and fast.
A working collaboration
GoMeddo and EF English First have worked collaboratively throughout this ongoing project using the scrum method. This ensured we were all aware of what was happening at every moment, despite our contacts being mostly in China. We kicked off with discovery conversations and workshops to find out exactly what EF English First wanted to achieve. As a technology specialist, we know exactly what the possibilities of the Salesforce platform and the app are and were able to give appropriate advice.
We used the Jira planning tool: a board that shows which features were scheduled, which were under development and whether things had already been completed. That way, everyone anywhere in the world, knows how far the project has progressed and what everyone is doing. We continue to optimise the integration of GoMeddo with Salesforce for EF English First. As an implementation partner, we are constantly improving the platform to meet the latest requirements of EF English First.
“When we started we weren’t completely clear where we wanted to go, we just had a high-level vision. It’s been a partnership between us to determine how we could utilise and enhance GoMeddo to fit our specific needs.”
Marcus Wilhelm
CIO, Education First
